Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has been in contact with the Secretary General of the United Nations over the Secretary General's call for no further percentage reductions by Ireland of its overseas development aid allocation; if his officials have been in contact with the United Nations on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31804/09]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has maintained close contact with the United Nations and UN Agencies in recent months. Discussions have covered the major international issues, including the effect of the global economic crisis on developing countries and on budgets for development programmes. The Minister for Foreign Affairs held wide-ranging discussions with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in New York on 8 May 2009. I participated in the United Nations Conference on the World Economic and Financial Crisis and its impact on Development in New York from 24 to 26 June. The UN Secretary General paid his first official visit to Ireland on 6-7 July, and held detailed discussions with both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

During his visit, the Secretary General praised Ireland's consistently strong support for the United Nations. He welcomed the Government's commitment to achieving the target of spending 0.7% of GNP on Official Development Assistance, and Ireland's focus on the eradication of hunger and poverty in working to achieve the UN Millennium Goals.

In these, and all of our discussions with the UN, the Government has set out the context and nature of the difficult decisions which have had to be taken this year to adjust the budget for the aid programme. We have outlined the very rapid growth of the programme over the past decade, and pointed out that, after the adjustments, Ireland will spend €696 million on ODA, representing at least 0.48% of GNP.

In 2009, Ireland is expected to remain the sixth highest of all international aid donors in per capita terms. We have emphasised that the decisions to reduce the budget have been taken solely in the context of the need to restore the public finances, and that the Government will resume the growth in the aid programme when economic circumstances allow. The Government continues to work towards the achievement of the 0.7% target by 2012. We have acknowledged that this will be more difficult to achieve than before the economic downturn, and have stated that a full assessment of Ireland's capacity to reach the target by 2012 will be carried out in the context of the preparation of the 2010 Budget.

The adjustments to the budget for the aid programme in 2009 included a 50% reduction in our planned voluntary contributions to UN Agencies this year. These budget reductions have been discussed in detail with the UN Agencies involved. Ireland will provide €40.5 million to the UN Agencies for development activities this year.